


Bumper Cars

by StrawberryLane



Category: Supernatural
Genre: (mentioned) - Freeform, Gen, Law Enforcement, POV Dean Winchester, Protective Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 11:50:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5496035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryLane/pseuds/StrawberryLane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is not how Dean imagined his morning to go. If someone had asked him three hours ago how he imagined his morning would go, his answer sure as hell would not have been "Eating breakfast with a runaway kid and then being picked up by the cops." But that is what is happening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bumper Cars

**Author's Note:**

> 100 % inspired by Dessertion (written by roque_clasique on LiveJournal). You should go read it, it's a really lovely story and one I find myself returning to all the time! :)
> 
> Also, apparently I can't write five and a half year olds believably. Just in case you wanted to know.

This is not how Dean imagined his morning to go. If someone had asked him three hours ago how he imagined his morning would go, his answer sure as hell would not have been "Eating breakfast with a runaway kid and then being picked up by the cops." But that is what is happening.

When he parked the impala in the empty parking lot of The Sunny Side Diner last night, he didn't think he'd wake up the following morning to a little girl with huge dark eyes staring back at him through the windshield. Except that is exactly what he woke up to. 

"Christo," he mutters, just because it doesn't hurt to check. The kid clearly isn't affected, or perhaps it, if it is a monster of some kind, just can't hear him, and therefore nothing happens. His head hurts, and he wants nothing more than sink deep down into the lands of dreaming once again, but the girl is still staring at him. Fuck's sake.

"Hey kid, what are you doing?" he says as he rolls down the window. 

"Nothing," says the girl, who he now sees is carrying a worn teddy bear with a missing ear. 

"You sure? You waiting on someone?" Dean takes a look around. The diner is still closed, opening hours between seven am. and ten pm., according to the sign on the door, and the lot around them is empty. There's not a soul other than himself and the girl which must mean it's early. Too early to be awake and way too early to deal with this.

"No."

"Where are your parents? Isn't it a bit too early for you to be outside at this hour?" Dean says, now having opened the door and stood up, stretching his back. Sleeping in the car never gets comfortable, no matter how often he does it.

"They're back home. Sleeping," the girl says, hugging her teddy bear to her chest.

"And why aren't you back home sleeping?"

"Because I'm running away," she tells him, chin sticking out. She looks at him like she dares him to question her decision to run away and suddenly Dean's reminded of Sam's patented bitch face look. And oh, running away. That explains a lot.

"Are you now?"

"Yes."

"All right then. What's your name? I'm Dean," Dean says, still standing by the open door of the impala.

"My mum says I'm not supposed to tell strangers my name."

"I bet you she also said not to talk to strangers, but I'm not a stranger because you've already talked to me, haven't you?"

"I'm Alex," the girl says, clearly deciding Dean's way of thinking is logical. If you've already talked to someone for over ten minutes, Dean is fairly certain they do not count as strangers anymore. Even if you don't know their name.

"Hi, Alex, I'm Dean."

"I know, you've said that," Alex tells him and Dean almost laughs, because yeah, he has said that already.

"So does your parents know you're running away?"

"No, because they're sleeping," Dean can almost hear the duh in the sentence.

"What's your last name?" he asks, thinking that he can maybe ask someone in the staff at the diner for the address to her parents house later when it opens. 

"I'm not telling," comes the answer, and damn, someone obviously taught her well enough not to announce everything to the world. Except that didn't stop her from running away. 

"So why are you running away anyway?"

"Because they said I couldn't ride the bumper cars. They said I was too small."

Bumper cars. The kid ran away because her parents said she couldn't ride the bumper cars, presumably at the carnival which is currently in town. Shit. 

"They said that? How old are you?" Dean asks, wondering if there's a certain age you must have reached to be able to ride the bumper car ride. He never spent much time at carnivals as a kid, and now, as an adult, it has always seemed like a kid thing. He's always too busy, anyway.

"Five and a half," comes the answer, pigtails bouncing as Alex straightens her back, obviously proud to be all of five and a half. 

"I'm twenty seven," Dean tells her, even though she didn't ask. Christ, it's been a long time since he's talked to another human being. Him and Sam thought it best to split up for a bit after that fiasco with the shapeshifter in Milwaukee, since the cops are looking for two men traveling together, not two men traveling separately. Fucking FBI, not minding their own business.

"Are you running away too?" Alex asks, now slowly walking closer too him. According to his phone it's now 6:56 am, which means the diner opens in less than five minutes. Shouldn't this place be swarming with cars by now, full of hungry people wanting stacks of pancakes in their bellies?

"Uhm...What?"

"Are you running away too?"

"Yeah...You know what, I guess I am."

"Did your mommy and daddy say you couldn't ride the bumper cars too?"

"Something like that," Dean says, deciding it'll be better not to tell the kid that he's a wanted man, "Hey, Alex, you hungry?" He asks instead, "Because I don't know about you, but I'm starving. What do you say we check out this diner right here?" Dean points to the building behind her, in case she missed that it is, in fact, a diner.

"Can I have bacon?" 

"Sure."

They walk into the diner together, at 7:01 am, Alex still clutching her teddy bear in her arms. They are the only ones there this early, except for two waitresses and a cook, who Dean doesn't actually sees, but assumes is there because before long there's two plates of steaming scrambled eggs and bacon in front of him and Alex where they're sitting in a booth with a splendid view over the parking lot and therefore also over Dean's baby.

"What are your parents called?" 

"My dad's name is Walter."

"And your mom?"

"Rebecca."

"And what are their last names?" Dean asks, wishing Sam was here, because he's always been much better at getting information out of people. For some reason people always trust Sam before they trust Dean. 

"You're going to tell them, aren't you?" Alex says, lip trembling, and then, "I'm running away!" as if Dean somehow missed this vital piece of information. Thank you, Captain Obvious, I'm aware.

"I'm not going to tell them," Dean assures her. Maybe he should just drop her off at the cop station? Except he'll be arrested for murder if he walks up to a cop. And that'll be bad enough on its own. Add a kid to the equation and the answer will be shit. No cop in their right mind will let him walk away if they as much as see him with the kid, even if they don't know who he is. Which is unlikely, considering his face has been on the eight o'clock news every day since about a week ago. They don't look even remotely alike, him and Alex, wouldn't look alike even if they had the same skin color, which they don't. And probably never will, Dean's brain reminds him. The point is, he's fucked. He can't get a straight answer out of the kid, and he can't go to the cops. Just leaving her at The Sunny Side Diner is always a possibility, but something about that doesn't sit right with him. She's not telling him her parent's last name or address, so why would she tell anyone else at this place?

The place is becoming crowded, Dean notices, now that breakfast time has officially begun. It's mostly people who buys coffees to go, but some have decided to sit down and have a real breakfast, like him and Alex. The smell of freshly made coffee and pancakes is hanging heavily in the air, making Alex sniff in the air with a hopeful expression on her face.

"You want pancakes?" Dean hears himself asking, and when she nods, he grins and flags down one of the waitresses. According to her name tag, her name is Jade.

"What can I get you two sweethearts?" She asks, smile bright as the sun. Dean should've worn sunglasses. 

"A plate of pancakes, please," Dean says as Alex yells "Syrup!" at him. 

"With syrup," he adds.

"Coming right up," Jade says, her eyes never leaving his face. Normally, Dean would've started flirting by now, like he does, but something about the way she's looking at him tells him this isn't the normal "hey, you're hot" reaction he's usually getting. This is something else. And it's making him nervous.

He watches as Jade disappears behind the counter before turning his attention back to the girl in front off him. This whole mess could've been avoided if her parents just had let their kid take a ride in a bumper car he thinks. Bumper cars are probably not even that great to begin with, but it would've made his morning a hell of a lot easier. Stupid parents and stupid carnivals.

Just as he's about the ask a passing waitress where the kid's pancakes have gone, two police officers step through the door to the diner. Dean groans. This is so not his lucky day. He quickly looks over towards the counter and sure as heck, there's Jade, hovering near a napkin dispenser. She's watching him, and Dean squashes the urge to make a series of rude hand gestures at her. It wouldn't help now, anyways. The two officers make their way through the room to his and Alex's table, the little girl watching curiously as the two men, one older, with a significant beer belly, and one younger, who very clearly thinks of himself as the bee's knees, come closer and closer.

"Good morning, Sir" says the older officer, who've apparently taken on the role of fatherly figure.

"Mornin' officer. What can I do for you?" Dean smiles, furiously wishing he would have left his gun in the car. But no, it's in the back of his pants, poking into his lower back.

"Mind telling me your name? And what you're doing here on this fine morning?" With a girl who clearly has no relation to you, is left unsaid, but Dean hears it clearly enough.

"Eating breakfast. Ashley. Jonathan Ashley," Dean says, hoping Alex doesn't chose this moment to reveal that his name is, in fact, not Jonathan Ashley. But the kid keeps quiet, busy as she is, licking the last bit of bacon grease from her fingers. 

"Would you be so kind as to come with us for a moment, Mr. Ashley? Bees Knees says, looking between Dean and Alex. Dean nods, defeated, knowing there's not much else he can do at this moment. He stands up, fully aware that the whole diner has now stopped what they're doing, instead watching what's happening over at the booth him and Alex are occupying.

"What about Alex?" He hears himself say.

"Don't worry. She can come with us too, if she wants," the older cop says, smiling down at Alex. Dean would bet his last money that the guy is a grandfather. Or at least desperately wants to be.

"What's happening? What's wrong?" Alex asks, only just noticing that Dean has made his way out of the booth.

"Nothing sweetheart, everything's all right. We're just gonna go with these fine gentlemen for a bit, all right?" Dean says, not missing the way the younger cop winces at the word sweetheart. So maybe that was the wrong thing to say, but what is Dean supposed to call her? Kid? Kiddo? Baby? No way. Alex, you should just call her Alex, his brain tells him, but it's too late now. The damage is already done.

The walk out to the cop car, and the ride to the station is uneventful, if you don't count the way the whole diner stared at their little mismatched group walking out. Dean sat in the back, with Bees knees, and Alex sat up front, with Granddad, excitedly talking about how she'd never been allowed to sit in the front seat before.

The cop station itself is decidedly less uneventful. They haven't actually put handcuffs on him yet, but Dean knows it's going to happen any time now.

They haven't even made it through the doors before two people, a man and a woman, appear before them. There's no doubt in Dean's mind that these two are Alex's parents. Double shit. 

Everybody around him seems to be crying. Both Alex's mom and dad are crying, holding onto their little girl, right there at the entrance of the station. Alex is crying, because her parents are and it's a chain reaction sort of thing. Grandfather cop also seems to be quietly crying and mumbling about happy endings, and so does Bees Knees, though he seems to be better at hiding it than Granddad is. Dean pinches his own arm, because he can feel himself tearing up slightly, which is just not happening. He's Dean Winchester and Dean Winchester does not cry. Everybody knows that.

Nobody seems to be paying him any attention, they are all busy with their crying. Jesus Christ, the kid was only gone for like what, three hours, tops? No need for the whole police station to lose it. 

Dean starts to back away from the group slowly and quietly, careful not to draw attention to himself. You'd think they would pay more attention to the supposed master criminal they've just caught up with, eating breakfast with a runaway little girl no less, but no. It's like he doesn't exist. 

He's just about to back around a corner when Alex turns around in her mother's embrace and holds out her hand towards him.

"Dean!" her yell makes the adults around her shift their attention around towards him. Both Granddad and Bees Knees move their hands to their belts, grabbing for their guns and Dean takes off running, throwing one last wave at Alex before sprinting down the street for all he's worth. He runs towards the diner, trying to keep to streets cars can't pass through in an attempt to evade the cops. They know this town, he doesn't. But as long as they haven't connected him to his car he should be fine. As long as he reaches the car before the cops reaches him.

Dean lets out a breathless laugh. Maybe he should make a stop at a carnival and try the bumper cars before meeting up with Sammy. Who knows, maybe they are the best thing ever? 


End file.
